It's Time for Broncos to Remove “Handle
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Kiszla: It’s time for Broncos to remove “Handle with Care” stickers from uniform of rookie QB Drew Lock By Mark Kiszla The Denver Post July 26, 2019 Wouldn’t Hall of Fame game be good spot to start rookie QB and see what he can do? How long will it take for the Broncos to remove the “Handle with Care” stickers from the uniform of rookie quarterback Drew Lock? Nobody, least of all his coach, seems to be in any real hurry for Lock to challenge veteran Joe Flacco for the starting job. And that’s fine. But am I the only one who thinks the Broncos have gone out of their way to handle Lock with kid gloves? To my eyes and ears, coach Vic Fangio has been cautious with both his praise and reps for Lock at training camp. So when I asked Fangio what he’s looking for in young quarterbacks, who drink out the fountain of NFL knowledge through a fire hose, the coach calmly made a list of boxes to be checked. “Don’t make the same mistake twice. Improvement, confidence, the ability to move on to the next play, no matter what happened the previous play,” Fangio said. “Be able to handle themselves in the huddle, be commanding out there and give the other 10 guys confidence that they know what they’re doing. That’s done two ways: 80 percent of it is performance, but 20 percent is how you carry yourself.” Lock is a quarterback’s apprentice. “He’s getting better. I think he’s getting better,” said Fangio, again cautious in his praise of Lock. “He’s not what I would call … He’s not a union NFL quarterback yet, but he’s improving.” I’m a firm believer you learn to sing by singing, not by listening to music. And a QB grows up quickest by playing, not watching. Lock will develop on the coach’s time table, not mine. So how will we know when Fangio thinks Lock is ready? Does a card come with union certification? “Maybe,” Fangio said. Well, here’s an idea: Let’s issue Lock a union card. And get on with it. John Elway, who has shaken so many trees looking for a QB he has bark under his nails, would not have traded up in the draft for Lock if the Broncos didn’t see something special in him at the University of Missouri. So pardon my puzzlement by Lock being treated less like fellow second-round pick Dalton Risner and more like undrafted free agent Kelvin McKnight in terms of the team’s urgency to develop a young player with skills. As a quarterback, Kevin Hogan is a journeyman in training. He is 26 years old. He has played in eight NFL games. He did nothing spectacular in limited duty with Cleveland before arriving in Colorado. He figures to pull a paycheck in this league for more years than the average pro football player. All well and good. Nothing wrong with that. But it seems to me the bonus date on Denver’s preseason schedule, when the Broncos head to Canton, Ohio, for the Hall of Fame game, would be the ideal time to give Lock a start and see what he can do at this point of his young career. If Lock isn’t good enough right now to take more snaps than Hogan, then can we reasonably expect him to be NFL-ready anytime during his rookie season? Redshirts are for QBs who don’t have a clue, not a guy capable of being the future face of the franchise. How good does Lock look in a Broncos uniform? Well, maybe the best that can be said is he’s nothing like Paxton Lynch. During his stop in Denver, Lynch seemed to be along for the ride in the family van to Disneyland. While Lock makes his share of rookie mistakes, there’s a swagger to him that indicates he takes great pleasure in beating anyone or anything in his way. Great players do not wait patiently for their window of opportunity. Greatness is locked up behind a door. It’s a door that must be kicked in. Different year, increased — and important — role for Broncos LB Josey Jewell By Ryan O’Halloran The Denver Post July 26, 2019 The Broncos have yet to play a preseason game and this is already a night-and-day difference training camp for inside linebacker Josey Jewell. Last year: A rookie backup behind veteran Brandon Marshall. … A base-package player when he was on the field. … A core special teams player. This year: A starter now that Marshall is in Oakland. … An every-down player in coach Vic Fangio’s defense. … A spectator during special teams practice drills. Playing for a head coach in Vic Fangio who will call the defensive plays and is a renowned developer of linebackers, Jewell has a golden opportunity. “He’s definitely putting some time into us and just looking at us,” Jewell said. “He’s almost like a second coach for (us) — to just really be able to pick up (things in) our game and tell us what we need to work on and what we’re doing good and just really perfect each part of our game. It’s great.” The Broncos’ linebackers need to be great in Fangio’s system. So far in training camp, the main sub-package personnel has been nickel, which means two inside linebackers stay on the field. That will place additional pass-coverage responsibilities — man and zone — on Jewell’s plate. “He’s been good,” Fangio said. “Josey’s been on top of his stuff from Day One.” Jewell played 459 of 1,077 defensive snaps (42.6 percent) last year, starting nine of his 16 games. He was a special teams player only until Marshall’s knee tendonitis shelved him. When Marshall returned, Jewell kept the starting base-package spot and Marshall played in dime (six defensive backs) personnel. In the year of the NFL Rookie Linebacker (five 100-tackle players), Jewell had 51 stops and only three missed tackles, proving to be a solid run-defense performer. He had at least five tackles in five of the Broncos’ last seven games. The Broncos passed on Michigan’s Devin Bush with the 10th overall pick and every other inside linebacker on the draft board. If Jewell and fellow starter Todd Davis needed a vote of confidence, that was it. A hallmark of Fangio’s defense has been stellar linebacker play, all the way back to New Orleans, when he had Pat Swilling, Sam Mills and Rickey Jackson plus San Francisco (Patrick Willis) and Chicago (Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan). “I love this playbook,” Jewell said. “This defense allows you to have some wiggle room — if you see something coming, go bite on that; if you see something else, play off your instincts. I think (Fangio) is a really big guy with instincts. Our defense relies on that. “We saw some 49ers’ film from a while ago and this past year’s Chicago film, which really related his defense and his playbook. And there were examples of them running it well.” The Broncos will play well at outside linebacker with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. But inside linebacker has some questions. Davis (calf) hasn’t practiced since July 19 and is expected to miss another 2-3 weeks. That has left Jewell to play with a revolving door of candidates: Alexander Johnson lined up next to him on Thursday. Also seeing time have been rookie Josh Watson and veteran Joe Jones. Those backups have been leaning on Jewell to confirm where to line up, what the coverage is and how to defend a run play. “I think every day, although he’s been pretty sharp, he learns something new, a thing or two that’s new to him or an adjustment or a route that he hadn’t seen yet and it’s good for him,” Fangio said. “He’s doing very well.” Broncos training camp rewind, Day 7: Vic Fangio not happy about errant shotgun snaps By Ryan O’Halloran The Denver Post July 26, 2019 Player Attendance Did not practice: LB Todd Davis (calf, sixth consecutive missed practice), WR River Cracraft (oblique, fifth consecutive), TE Jake Butt (knee, fourth consecutive) and WR DeaSean Hamilton (hamstring, first). On Hamilton, coach Vic Fangio said: “Not as bad as it could have been. He woke up feeling better (Thursday). Encouraged that it will be short instead of long but we know how those hamstrings go.” Returned to practice WR Juwann Winfree (calf, missed two practices). New injuries OL Jake Rodgers (calf) walked off the field under his own power early in practice. TE Bug Howard (ankle) was injured during a 7-on-7 play in the end zone. He was carted to the locker room and did not put any pressure on his left leg. “We think it’s just a sprain at this point,” coach Vic Fangio said. Top play On a half roll-out to the right, QB Joe Flacco set his feet and threw long to the left where WR Courtland Sutton made the catch after getting a step on CB Isaac Yiadom. Thumbs up WR Tim Patrick. Caught four passes in 11-on-11 and looks effective out-muscling defenders on quick slant routes. QB Brett Rypien. The fourth passer on the depth chart, he played a camp-high 13 snaps of 11-on-11.